dana west
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Sep-16-2002
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Message #114369 posted by dana west (Info) May 05, 2008 02:43:56 ET
We're In A War - Where Are The Media?
by Joan Vennochi May 4, 2008
The real news of April played second fiddle to the presidential campaign,
the pope's visit to America, and the Texas polyga my case.
The death toll for the US military in Iraq hit 49 in April, making it the
deadliest month since September, according to the Associated Press. Around
Iraq, at least 1,080 Iraqi civilians and security personnel were killed last
month, an aver age of 36 a day, according to the AP tally. While that's
down from March's total of 1,269, or an average of 41 per day, those
casualties certainly don't add up to a stable Iraq.
But Iraq isn't getting the prominent play of other news topic s. The latest
statistics from the Project for Excellence in Journalism back up the
conclusion that coverage of the Iraq war is on the decline.
The Washington-based research organization studied roughly 1,300 stories
from 48 news outlets du ring the month of April. The groups analysis found
that during that time frame, the top news story was the presidential
campaign, which accounted for 33 percent of news coverage. The economy came
in second, accounting for 6 percent. The pope's vis it accounted for 4
percent of the coverage, and the Texas polygamy case garnered another 4
percent.
Even as violence in Iraq increased, events on the ground in Iraq accounted
for only 3 percent of news coverage, an d the Iraq policy debate accounted
for another 3 percent.
In April 2007, the Iraq policy debate was the second biggest story at 8
percent; and events on the ground in Iraq accounted for another 7 percent of
the news, accordi ng to Mark Jurkowitz, associate director of the Project for
Excellence in Journalism.
Jurkowitz attributes the downshift in media coverage to a number of factors
that have played out since Democrats took control of Congress i n November
2006.
First, he said, the media were prepared for a "battle royale" between
Bush and a Congress that seemed determined to bring the troops home.
Instead, in January 2007 Bush announced a military surge and went on to win
a series of appropriations fights in Congress. At that point,"The media
decided the political battle was over and that the administration, as long
as it remained in office, would control the conduct of the war," said
Jurkowitz.
With no political war to cover in Congress, the media were less interested
in covering the actual war in Iraq. A downturn in media coverage can be
traced to May 24, 2007, when Congress voted to fund the war without
timetables.
Violence in Iraq did start to diminish in the last quarter of 2007. When it
looked like the surge was reducing violence, there was less coverage of the
situation inside Iraq, noted Jurkowitz. At the same time, the economy, from
the mortgage market to gas prices, began to emerge as the number-one issue
on the public's mind.
Meanwhile, the drawn-out presidential contest, particularly on the
Democratic side, generates much media coverage, but not much focus on the
Iraq war. The war is a small part of the debate, at least partly because the
positions of the candidates are similar. That is likely to change in the
general election, when the presidential contest is finally narrowed down to
Republican John McCain versus the Democratic nominee, who is expected to be
Barack Obama.
For now, the press is too caught up in Obama's belated renunciation of his
former pasto's controversial st atements to focus on Iraq.
Even the fifth anniversary of President Bush's 2003 appearance aboard the
US aircraft carrier that displayed the now-infamous "Mission
Accomplished" sign drew marginal attention.
There's the horse race to cover: How many superdelegates are in Obama's
corner versus Clinton's?
And, there's the ratings race to exploit: Why did country singer Billy Ray
Cyrus allow his 15-year-old daughter, Miley, to pose in a sheet for Vanity
F air? Was Barbara Walters driven by a desire for catharsis or book sales
when she revealed an affair with former senator Edward M. Brooke that dates
back to the 1970s?
It's enough to distract the media from writing an elegy for the war and
its dead.
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